My son and I stopped into a Lee Brothers class several months ago as it was right next door to a good Mexican restaurant.

We sat and watched a kids class where there were a bunch of 8 year old black belts running around (my son was 5 at the time).

My son said "dad...how can these kids be black belts?". I said "they can't, its crap". And he said something like "it is crap."

Later he got invited to a b-day party at Lee's and everybody was supposed to wear their uniform as most of the kids take classes there. Well my boy takes bjj and shows up in his bjj gi. Some of his friends start laughing b/c he is just a white belt (w/ two stripes thank you) and his "uniform" was so different then theirs...and they all started rough-housing. A few minutes later there is a black belt crying b/c he got thrown down and another one who is mounted and can't get up.

This is why TMA gets a bad rap. Why is it okay for the kids to laugh at your kid? I mean every person that comes here, downing so called sport arts, claims "TMA teaches honor and value." Hmmmm sounds like this school doesn't do that.

I have just looked at the school's website and I am utterly disgusted. It is a hodgepodge of feely-good do-nothingness. I would not send my child there as I expect he would wind up with a black belt within three years and walk out with the impression that he knows and can do more then he actually would.

Sometimes telling kids the truth his harder then making up a story or telling a falsehood, but it is better for them in the long run. The seeming indoctrination, by all appearances, going on at this dojang is frightening. Belts are not candy and every child is not equal. Sometimes a child needs to be left behind for thier own good.

Please. Lee Brothers. For the good of the children. Stop This Madness.

I have to say, I always feel genuinely bad when I see a school where the good vibes have gotten out of hand.

The heartbreak of places like this is the instructors and parents usually have very good intentions, and the general warm fuzzy they have RE the place, because it is a pleasant place and a fixture in their kids' lives, forms a protective aura around the parts of the brain responsible for critically evaluating the crap being taught there.

Then, when some "outsider" points out the emperor has new clothes, he's the asshole for fucking with a portion of the kid/parent's life. That's why when someone asks me about a class for a newbie, particularly a kid, I never take the "eh, you might as well put them in whatever until you see if they stick with it/really want to do it/get a little bigger" approach.

Because then you get the heartbreak part II - all the people we get through here that say, "I love my TKD school, but I'm older now and realize it's not teaching me much. How do I keep the people and change the training?"